Help Us Save the Mt. Hood Community College Steps to Success Program!
On June 30, the face of our state could change forever, unless you join in the effort to block the 60percent funding cut proposed for the Jobs Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program. If this funding cut goes through, your constituents may find themselves facing the prospect of life on public assistance without any hope for change in the near future. This is a dire situation.
Please consider the following:
- Approximately 85 percent of the people who find employment through JOBS stay off public assistance and remain self-sufficient.
- Under the current proposed cut, Mt. Hood Community College’s (MHCC) Steps to Success (STS) work-to-welfare program, which is critical to the success of JOBS, would be crippled or eliminated altogether.
- MHCC’s program has consistently outperformed other area programs and places an average of 131 clients each month.
MHCC’s STS program has been successfully helping its clients move from public assistance to self sufficiency for more than 20 years. MHCC has consistently met or exceeded its monthly goals for STS job placements:
The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) is proposing the implementation of a new delivery model that would replace MHCC as the primary STS program contractor. By gutting a successful program that is putting people to work, we would be turning our backs on those who need it most—citizens who want to work but need a helping hand.
It is critical that cuts be minimizedand the current delivery model be maintained, with MHCC serving as the primary contractor. It has never been more important to help those willing to work avoid public assistance. The health of our state and citizens requires this, and your constituents want you to support this effort:
“Many employees at Human Solutions started in employment with the Work Experience program, moved to the Jobs Plus program and then became permanent employees. Without coming through the Work Experience program, interns would not be able to demonstrate the skills necessary to do the job and would likely still be surviving on TANF rather than successfully becoming self-sufficient.”- Shauna Childress, Human Solutions, Inc.
“My agency relies on the support of the interns that come to us through the wonderful Steps to Success program. In order for us to continue to serve seniors in our community, we need the program. I hope that sufficient funding will be provided for the program now and for the future.” - Kristina John Baptiste of YWCA, Greater Portland
4-5-11